


the bones

by mamalovesherbagels



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: athena is still off work and is starting to miss it, bobby is stressed about being captain during a pandemic, she kicked his ass tho, stupid evil rapist man who attacked her, that's my motherfucking girl, wrote bathena for once lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27876929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mamalovesherbagels/pseuds/mamalovesherbagels
Summary: Bobby comes home from work, still adjusting to his new normal of being fire captain while a pandemic has started to take hold over Los Angeles. Athena, arm still in a sling, is waiting for him to come home and ready to talk him through it.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	the bones

Her feet are up on the coffee table when he enters the living room; she’s leaned back against the couch and the arm that isn’t cooped up in a sling is being used to hold a mug of coffee. It’s late for that, later than she should be drinking coffee if she wants to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, but he doesn’t call her out on that.

“Hi,” is what he says instead, practically ripping his mask off before going over to the kitchen sink to rub his hands. This has been his and everyone else’s new normal for weeks now but it already feels as if it’s been years, always wondering about potential exposures and weighing the risks of giving his friends a hug.

They work together, they’re a part of his “bubble,” as the scientists would call it, but Athena and her kids are the ones that he actually lives with, so he should probably keep the non-aid-giving touching to just them, right?

But Eddie had seemed so disappointed after they lost a patient earlier, so he had given him a hug and… was that a mistake?

“You seem stressed.”

He sighs, because yeah, he is. But stressed as he is, he also knows his wife is jealous that he gets to be out and about in the world at all, doing his job while she stays mostly at home, too physically hurt and emotionally scarred to be serving as a police officer.

He knows she’d never want him to feel like he has to hide his feelings from her, but he’s still unsure of where their new boundaries are. They’re just now starting to regain their footing in the relationship after she had been attacked, and he doesn’t want to rock the boat.

“Stop that,” she sighs, and the confusion must be clear on his face because she continues, “stop wondering whether whatever it is that’s on your mind is something that I can handle or not. It is, I can. Whatever is upsetting you, just tell me so we can handle it together.”  
“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Read my mind?”

She just snorts, not a word leaving her lips as she sits up a bit and raises her eyebrows at him.

“It’s just hard,” he admits, sinking down next to her on the couch, “figuring out… everything. How work is going to work now that there’s a pandemic going around. I don’t want to get sick, I don’t want to accidentally get anyone else sick but… coming in contact with people is my job. It’s a risk that comes with helping people and it’s a risk that I’m very willing to take but it’s just… hard. And I’m the captain, so the team looks at me for the answers but I’m only still just figuring that out as I go.”

“No one expects you to have all the answers right away, except maybe yourself,” she points out gently, poking his shoulder and despite the weight that had been on his shoulders just minutes before he feels his lips smiling at her, “it’s a stressful time for everyone, and I can only imagine what it’s like to be doing the job you do right now. You’ll learn as you go, but all you can do is your best, right? And I happen to know that your best is very, very good.”

“Oh? And how exactly do you know that, Ms. Grant?”

“Well, I’m married to you,” she teases, bringing her hand to the side of his jaw, “kinda get to see all the good stuff up close. And I’m also friends with all your subordinates and I know they all think the world of you. I’m sure you’re doing a great job and that you’re the only one who is unsure of that.”

“Yeah…” he sighs, trailing off to look right in her eyes before a thought comes to him and he can’t suppress the laugh in time.

“What’s so funny?”

“Today Buck asked me if we could quarantine Hen and Chimney to one back corner of the station since they have the most contact with sick people.”

“Of course he did,” Athena chuckles, shaking her head, “and what did you say?”

“That we need them around in case he and Eddie do something stupid and get themselves hurt.”

“See? Forward thinking. The makings of any great captain.”


End file.
